Excellent Response to Nivolumab and Ipilimumab in Metastatic Gastroesophageal Junction Squamous Carcinoma.

Unresectable gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers have a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. We report the case of a patient with a Siewert class III gastroesophageal junction squamous carcinoma with metastatic spread into the liver who had an exceptional response to a combination therapy of nivolumab and ipilimumab despite being programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) negative, microsatellite stable (MSS), and having a low tumor mutational burden. He initially experienced disease progression on the chemotherapy regimens modified DCF and FOLFIRI resulting in limited functional status, esophageal stent placement, and feeding tube placement. After about 6 months on nivolumab and ipilimumab, he had near-complete disease resolution. He was able to return to his baseline functional status, as well as have the esophageal stent and feeding tube removed. Our case contributes to the value of exploring immunotherapy as an option for a variety of hard to treat cancers

Pretreatment nutritional status and response to checkpoint inhibitors in lung cancer.

Background:Checkpoint inhibitors are integral to non-small-cell lung cancer treatment. Existing data suggests that nutritional status may play a role in antitumor immunity. Materials & methods:This retrospective study of 106 non-small-cell lung cancer patients who started checkpoint inhibitors between 2014 and 2017 at our institution assessed relationship of nutritional parameters to overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival. Results:Mean age was 68.7 ± 9.2 years and 59.4% patients were male. On multivariate analysis for OS, hypoalbuminemia and significant weight loss were prognostic at p-values of 0.0005 and 0.0052, respectively. We noted a parabolic association between age and OS (p = 0.026, 0.0025). Conclusion:In our study, some malnutrition parameters were associated with decreased OS. U-shape relationship between age and OS noted here warrants further evaluation

Individual addressing and state readout of trapped ions utilizing rf- micromotion

A new scheme for the individual addressing of ions in a trap is described that does not rely on light beams tightly focused onto only one ion. The scheme utilizes ion micromotion that may be induced in a linear trap by dc offset potentials. Thus coupling an individual ion to the globally applied light fields corresponds to a mere switching of voltages on a suitable set of compensation electrodes. The proposed scheme is especially suitable for miniaturized rf (Paul) traps with typical dimensions of about 20-40 microns.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figure

Climate Dependent Heat Stress Mitigation Modeling for Dairy Cattle Housing

Dairy cattle are susceptible to heat stress with reported milk production loss exceeding 1.2 billion dollars in 2010. Heat stress occurs when the local thermal environment prevents adequate dissipation of metabolic heat production over extended periods. Implementing mitigation strategies in order to reduce heat stress has been a crucial need as dairy housing has transitioned from pasture to indoor housing systems. In order to maximize production, producers need the most effective cooling system to reduce heat stress. A heat stress mitigation model was developed using TMY3 data sets as inputs. The objectives of this research were to: (i) analyze the thermal environment’s ability to reduce heat stress in dairy cattle in selected regions using TMY3 data, (ii) model Holstein cattle subjected to various environmental modification systems (elevated airspeed, evaporative pad cooling, direct sprinkling) by region, (iii) create a universal barn/cooling system model to apply to selected regions with given TMY3 data inputs, and (iv) develop contour maps with optimal cooling system recommendations throughout the United States. A transient thermal balance model was developed using equations and parameters from published heat stress models in order to quantify heat dissipation from a dairy cow to her environment. The model was initially tested and evaluated using two TMY3 stations (Fresno, California SN:723890 and Eau Claire, Wisconsin SN:726435). The model’s predictions were within one standard deviation of field data. Once validated, the model was applied to all 215 TMY3 Class 1 stations and contour maps of the U.S. were created for producers to determine which cooling strategy is the most economical in their region

Large-scale Oscillation of Structure-Related DNA Sequence Features in Human Chromosome 21

Human chromosome 21 is the only chromosome in human genome that exhibits oscillation of (G+C)-content of cycle length of hundreds kilobases (500 kb near the right telomere). We aim at establishing the existence of similar periodicity in structure-related sequence features in order to relate this (G+C)% oscillation to other biological phenomena. The following quantities are shown to oscillate with the same 500kb periodicity in human chromosome 21: binding energy calculated by two sets of dinucleotide-based thermodynamic parameters, AA/TT and AAA/TTT bi-/tri-nucleotide density, 5'-TA-3' dinucleotide density, and signal for 10/11-base periodicity of AA/TT or AAA/TTT. These intrinsic quantities are related to structural features of the double helix of DNA molecules, such as base-pair binding, untwisting/unwinding, stiffness, and a putative tendency for nucleosome formation.Comment: submitted to Physical Review

Sympathetic Cooling of Trapped Cd+ Isotopes

We sympathetically cool a trapped 112Cd+ ion by directly Doppler-cooling a 114Cd+ ion in the same trap. This is the first demonstration of optically addressing a single trapped ion being sympathetically cooled by a different species ion. Notably, the experiment uses a single laser source, and does not require strong focusing. This paves the way toward reducing decoherence in an ion trap quantum computer based on Cd+ isotopes.Comment: 4 figure

q-Generalization of the inverse Fourier transform

A wide class of physical distributions appears to follow the q-Gaussian form, which plays the role of attractor according to a Central Limit Theorem generalized in the presence of specific correlations between the relevant random variables. In the realm of this theorem, a q-generalized Fourier transform plays an important role. We introduce here a method which univocally determines a distribution from the knowledge of its q-Fourier transform and some supplementary information. This procedure involves a recently q-generalized Dirac delta and the class of functions on which it acts. The present method conveniently extends the inverse of the standard Fourier transform, and is therefore expected to be very useful in the study of many complex systems.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Physics Letters